[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

I agree much with your review here. This album does NOT sound like a recent sonic youth album, BUT I must give them credit, their evolution of sound continues in the same steadying direction, and that is progress, and afterall they have been doing this LONGER THAN I HAVE been alive, and I have male pattern baldness for christ's sake!

This album was initially a let down (in a way that RR was surprisingly not, from the first track I loved RR despite its being different) but after a few days of listening I really like it. I like it in a different way than I usually like Sonic Youth albums.. but I must admit it does have its moments.

Sacred Trickster
the end of of Anti Orgasm is a Daydream Nation/Sonic Nurse moment..

No Way and Message the History are fabulously sonicesque tunes..

my two cents, since Jim left they have been rambling around rather aimlessly and stumbled upon a more conventional approach to making music. With sonic nurse era tunes they wanted to perfectly converge the elements of structured, traditional rocknroll music with the spontaneity and no-wave improvs of the patented sonic youth sound, and it worked, and sonic nurse is an absolute gem in music history! But it represents a kind of PEAK!

now they have went to opposite direction, instead of riding the no-wave mixed with convention, they are slipping deeper and deeper into conventional music. I blame those assholes who stole all their guitars in 2000. Since they got jacked, they write tunes on acoustic guitars, and all you guitar players out there know how straight forward and conventional an acoustic requires your playing to be. BUT I also like this evolution as documented in NYC, Murray Street and Sonic Nurse. It brought out the more, I dare say musical side of sonic youth...

all in all I like the Eternal. Its a good album, its definitely better than the Dirty-Goo-EJSTNS era thats for sure..